As the focus on New Jersey and Virginia's gubernatorial elections' fades, it is time to turn away from the East Coast to one municipal election in the Midwest with profound implications for one of this nation's most persistent problems: race.

This is a result that should be heard around the world. Why? Because the Detroit metro area has long been among the most racially segregated in the country, and Mayor-elect Mike Duggan is a businessman from the lily-white suburb of Livonia who worked in the city for years but didn't live there. That Duggan, who only became a resident to run for office, could be elected by a vast black majority points to refreshing change.

Downplaying race

Duggan is trying to downplay race. "I resent it. I've resented it from the beginning," he said of talk about skin color at a Wednesday news conference. While the new mayor is encouraging a healthy forward-looking approach, that doesn't erase Detroit's race-centric narrative. Former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, now in prison for corruption, explained the dynamic: "Detroit became 'black Detroit' and the suburbs became the 'white suburbs,' and people picked sides."

Coleman Young's inaugural address as Detroit's first black mayor in 1974 shows just how far once-bitter hearts and minds have moved. "I issue this warning to all those pushers, to all rip-off artists, to all muggers: It's time to leave Detroit; hit Eight Mile Road," he said, directing criminals to head out to the street marking the border into the white suburbs.

As recently as the 1990s, Mayor Dennis Archer was derided by residents for not being "black enough," a complaint derived mostly because Archer focused City Hall efforts on improving cooperation with state government and wealthy bordering counties, which had large white majorities. Young's confrontational approach had more punchy appeal in the notoriously tough town.

New urgency

What has changed is that a new sense of urgency has taken hold since the Motor City filed the nation's largest municipal bankruptcy in July. Not long ago, state and suburban leaders seemed content to let "the Big D" sink into the mire of its own problems. But the looming default under $20 billion in debt spurred Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to get involved by appointing an emergency manager to take over the city's finances.

It's an impressive shift toward a more functional regional partnership to jointly address Detroit's problems, and Detroiters deserve a hand.

After all, it's not as if the area's blacks don't have legitimate historical grievances. Following ages of oppression in the South, blacks moved to northern factory cities like Detroit by the millions for good-paying jobs in the first half of the 20th century, only to be fired en masse to provide work for white veterans returning from World War II.

It's easy for whites to say everyone should forget ugly "ancient history," but not so easy if your own grandfather were treated so badly.

Detroit's big step for race relations couldn't come at a better time. The promise that electing a black president would deliver a post-racial future didn't pan out, and this summer's Trayvon Martin saga spiked racial tensions. A different result in Detroit signals it is possible to set aside differences to pull together. That's a lesson with national appeal.

Brett M. Decker, a Detroiter in exile, is consulting director at the White House Writers Group.